Text Mining Data from Students to Reveal Meaningful Information for Educators

Academic institutions adopt different advising tools for various objectives. Past research used both numeric and text data to predict students’ performance. Moreover, numerous research projects have been conducted to find different learning strategies and profiles of students. Those strategies of learning together with academic profiles assisted in the advising process. This research proposes an approach to supplement these activities by text mining students’ essays to better understand different students’ profiles across different courses (subjects). Text analysis was performed on 99 essays written by undergraduate students in three different courses. The essays and terms were projected in a 20-dimensional vector space. The 20 dimensions were used as independent variables in a regression analysis to predict a student’s final grade in a course. Further analyses were performed on the dimensions found statistically significant. This study is a preliminary analysis to demonstrate a novel approach of extracting meaningful information by text mining essays written by students to develop an advising tool that can be used by educators.

The Impact of Corporate Entrepreneurship on the Performance of Jordanian Telecom Corporates

The Telecom sector in Jordan is highly competitive in a way that affects the performance of firms working in this sector, many solutions were provided to enhance performance, but corporate entrepreneurship as a solution to significantly improve performance still not have fully adopted, that is why this research was carried to highlight the importance of such concept to improve performance. This research was aimed at determining the impact of corporate entrepreneurship dimensions (innovation, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy) on the performance of Jordanian telecom corporates in Jordan. Data were collected from 39 telecom corporates in Jordan. The questionnaires entail assessing the degree of corporate entrepreneurship in relation to the performance of telecom corporates in Jordan. SmartPLS 2.0 Statistical program was used to conduct descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the research indicated that corporate entrepreneurship dimensions (innovation, risk-taking, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness) positively affect the performance of Jordanian telecom corporates except for the autonomy dimension.

A case study of the benefits of the IoT in the Qatari retail industry

Technological advancements have led to the creation of new paradigms like the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies are moving the digital space into a period where they will power billions of devices leading to the transformations of products and services provided by businesses. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore the benefits of deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) in businesses using the case of the Qatari retail businesses. The study assumed an interpretivism research philosophical stance and an addictive approach to theory utilising the Technology, Organisation, Environment model to guide the research. The research data were gathered using a qualitative approach utilising semi-structured interviews as the method of data collection. Accordingly, the heads of information technology in the selected retail industry businesses in Qatar were interviewed to answer the main research questions. The findings uncovered that retailers in Qatar are using the IoT devices such as sensors, scanners, beacons, smart shelves, personalisation alerts, and FRIDs to enable their key business operations and processes. Even though the Qatar retail businesses are not concerned about the specific IoT devices utilised, the benefits of their deployment established from the study include automation of business processes (Technological benefits), efficiency and personalisation of customer requirements (Organisational benefits), and increased collaboration and supply chain optimisation within the entire Qatar retail industry (Environmental benefits). As such, the results of the study agree with the TOE model that technology, organisation, and environment are the driving forces behind technology adoption and utilisation. Finally, among practical implications, a collaboration between software developers and the retail industry project professionals will ensure that the IoT artefacts are designed with security mechanisms, thus enhancing the security and safety of the information gathered from the IoT devices. Further, the study offers guidance on the theoretical elements that contribute to the benefits of utilising the IoT in Qatar retail businesses.

Analysis of the Effect of the European Debt Crisis on the Saudi Arabian Economy

This paper investigates the economic impact of the 2009 European debt crisis on Saudi Arabia’s real economy from 2004 Q2 to 2014 Q2 using a structural vector autoregressive model (SVAR). The results of the impulse response functions obtained from the aggregated data show that the shock to European imports from Saudi Arabia had a significant impact on the real effective exchange rate, inflation rate, and economic growth that lasted for three periods. Moreover, the variance decomposition analysis shows that Europe’s imports from Saudi Arabia explain approximately 20% of the variance of the Saudi real effective exchange rate and real economic growth, 10% of the interest rate variability, and only 5% of the inflation rate variance. The results of the individual country analysis show that the impact of shocks to imports from all European countries had an instantaneous impact, except for France and Spain, where the impact on the economic growth was significant in the second and sixth periods respectively. The results suggest that Saudi Arabian policymakers should continue the process of export diversification in order to reduce its dependence on this region.

Is Financial Inclusion a Determinant of Life Expectancy? Evidence from West African Region

This study is a contribution to the debate on the significance of financial inclusion with much emphasis on its impacts on human life span. The sample used for the analyses consisted of 14 West African countries over the period 2010 and 2018. The study employed a dynamic 2-Step System GMM approach, and under different model specifications, control for public and private health expenditure, food production quality, population, access to electricity, and the number of people practicing open defecation. The estimated results, among others, showed considerable evidence of positive feedback of financial inclusion on human life span. As such, substantial improvement in the access to and use of financial services is key to a high life expectancy in the region.

Board Size and Firm Performance: Case of Kuwait

This study examined the relationship between board size and firm performance using a sample of 110 non-financial listed firms on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) from 2009 to 2017 (9 years). Empirical tests were conducted using OLS and 2SLS regressions as well as two performance measures to control the issues of endogeneity and causality; the study found that board size negatively affected firm performance. Thus, a small board size is better for non-financial Kuwaiti listed firms, which is consistent with agency theory and the majority of previous studies conducted in developed and developing countries. However, the causality issue does exist. The study makes a number of contributions to the corporate governance literature—namely, it provides a good understanding of the relationship board size and firm performance. In addition, examining such variables without considering the issues of endogeneity and causality would lead to misleading results. Finally, this study provides clear evidence for regulators in Kuwait to design an optimal board size to improve listed firms.